This work for violin and piano was completed in 1886 and was dedicated to violinist and fellow Belgian Eugene Ysaÿe, who had persuaded Franck to write a violin sonata in honor of the violinist's wedding. "The 1886 premiere took place in an art gallery in Brussels. The room was so dark that Ysaÿe was forced to play the sonata largely from memory" (Jason Sundram, University of Rochester music critic). "Probably no composer of his rank met with so little recognition at the hands of his contemporaries." However, the highly original structural scheme for Franck's violin sonata "is carried through with unflagging resource, and with a wealth of melodic charm that makes the early and constant success of the sonata easy to understand" (Grove's). As Franck was a highly skilled professor and virtuoso